The Lord of the Rings, the J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired stage spectacle created by an international team of artists, opens in its Toronto world premiere March 23 at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Like the massive three-part fantasy novel and film versions that came before it, the music-infused, three-act production — with a running time of more than three hours — is nothing if not ambitious. Director Matthew Warchus, who co-adapted the novel (with Shaun McKenna) for the stage, is in charge of the $27 million (Canadian) production, which boasts 70 actors (which includes 49 plus a battery of support people) in a 2,000-seat venue. [More]
Category: Events
StriderGirl writes: I’m a Toronto Ringer eagerly anticipating my trip to the LOTR musical – my husband and I are going next Friday for our anniversary. CAN’T WAIT!!! Today’s Toronto Star newspaper has a full section devoted to the musical, with pictures for the first time! (They had had to sign an agreement that they wouldn’t write anything about it or publish photos until the previews were over, and the grand opening is tonight.) It’s quite interesting, and it’s all on the Star’s website too! [More]
Allison writes: Something your Canadian readers might appreciate knowing, I just heard that on “The National” tonight there will be a documentary about the making of the Lord Of The Rings musical. The National is on C.B.C T.V. at 10:00PM. The documentary part usually begins at approximately 10:30.
Garfeimao writes: In two weeks time, a new film will be released, starring Sean Astin called “Marilyn Hotchkiss’s Ballroom Dancing and Charm School”. This film was originally screened at Sundance last year, and subsequently bought by Samual Goldwyn for distribution. It stars Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, Camryn Manheim, Adam Arkin, Sonia Braga, Ernie Hudson, Danny Devito and John Goodman.
This film is a rather adorable little romance story about dealing with loss, keeping long ago made promises, and the healing nature of dance. I’m not going to give away any of the story, it’s something you need to see and decide for yourself what is happening. But I will say that this film started as a Short Film in 1990, and that short film still survives, in the form of flashbacks, in this current film. In fact, one of the children from the earlier short film makes an appearance as an adult now in the later film. It’s rather clever, actually, the way they intercut the original story, filled it out and filmed the rest of the story. And the cast is to die for, especially with the kind of limited budget independant films are famous for.
This screened for the Inaugral screening of the Orange County Film Society, sponsored by the Newport Beach Film Festival, at the Lido Cinema in Balboa. If you want to see a sweet film that will tug at your heart, I suggest you look this one up.
Expect me when you see me,
Garfeimao
The much-anticipated Lord of the Rings musical is set to open today in Toronto, Canada. There have been several reviews posted here the past few weeks, but we’re always interested in more. If you plan on making a weekend of it and gathering with other fans, send us along your story, photos and review! Take a look at the Musical website. [More]
Dominic Monaghan’s Golden Globe winning show ‘Lost’ is on tonight at 9PM EST on ABC. TORN’s chatroom now has a special ‘Lost’ screening room, login to #lost at 9PM and watch with fans from around the country! [ABC.com] [TORN Chat]